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Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Gregory Jaczko is pleased with Tokyo Electric Power's efforts to stabilize reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Japan. The melted fuel in the plant's reactors has cooled enough to prevent radioactive emissions beyond site boundaries, Jaczko said. "I feel very comfortable that they have completed really the requirements that are necessary to move on to the next stage," he added.

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The decommissioning of Tokyo Electric Power's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Japan is more complicated than the Three Mile Island facility in Pennsylvania, said Lake Barrett, a former Nuclear Regulatory Commission official who was appointed as an adviser to TEPCO. Barrett, who formerly led the cleanup at Three Mile Island, said the radiation leaks and the meltdowns in three Fukushima Daiichi reactors complicate the process.

The Fukushima Daiichi incident in Japan could cause delays for the review of Progress Energy's proposal to construct new reactors in Florida, said Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Gregory Jaczko. His remarks came after the NRC cleared SCANA's reactor-construction plans in South Carolina. "We could expect similar delays for future" licenses, he said.

Nuclear Regulatory Commission members are prepared to work together -- despite tensions -- on several reactor-permit applications and on improving safety in the aftermath of the Fukushima Daiichi incident in Japan. Last week, four NRC commissioners claimed Chairman Gregory Jaczko was undermining the agency and bullying staff. "If he is committed to changing his way of doing business and behavior, then I will listen," said Commissioner William Ostendorff.

The license to construct two new reactors at Plant Vogtle in Georgia should include conditions derived from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's study of the Fukushima Daiichi incident, said NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko. The agency could give its decision on the project late in the year or early next year, Jaczko said.

Tokyo Electric Power's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant "continues to further stabilize," said Bill Borchardt, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's executive director for operations. The March 11 earthquake and tsunami seems to have damaged three of the plant's six reactors, which led to the release of radiation, Borchardt said. Radioactive water found in a turbine building is "a result of the water that they've been injecting" to cool down nuclear fuel rods, he said.